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A Weekly Quota Of Fishery Shorts Caught And Landed By The Institute For Fisheries Resources And The Pacific Coast Federation Of Fishermen's Associations
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~~> 8/11/04 VOL. 10 NO. 01 <~~

~WE HOOK THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO NET~
Previous Issue

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." .... George W. Bush

Dear Readers: With this issue, after a much deserved summer break, the Fishlink Sublegals returns to publication. Thanks for your patience as well as your many expressions of support during our sabbatical. We hope to bring you even better coverage of fisheries and salmon restoration issues in the future. -- The Sublegals Staff

10:01/01. NO RESPONSE YET FROM WHITE HOUSE ON REQUEST FOR KLAMATH SALMON DISASTER RELIEF FOR 2005 AND 2006 FISHING SEASONS: On 14 July, PCFFA sent a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush requesting assistance from his administration in preparing for fishery closures anticipated for next salmon season, and perhaps 2006 as well, that are likely to be imposed due to the massive Klamath River fish kills during the spring and late summer of 2002 (see Sublegals, 9:11/01; 6:15/01; 6:14/01; 6:13/01; 6:12/07; 5:18/01; 5:17/02; 5:14/02; 5:13/02). The letter asked for disaster relief to help commercial fishermen and their communities, recreational fishing businesses, and the Tribes of the Klamath River, who all will be victims of future closures in order to protect the remnant runs of these two affected year classes of Klamath fall-run chinook salmon. The closures could extend from the Columbia River to Monterey Bay. To date, there has been no response from the White House.

The Klamath River runs through southern Oregon and northern California, emptying into the Pacific north of Eureka, California. Two separate Klamath fish kills were documented in 2002. Both resulted from the refusal by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to release impounded Klamath water back into the river needed for salmon survival, including the river's Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed coho salmon. The first kill occurred in the spring of 2002, affecting downstream migrating baby salmon. The second occurred late that summer, killing as many as 80,000 adult spawning salmon. Exacerbating the crisis, surviving spawners were highly stressed and produced few progeny. Klamath chinook stocks are principally taken in an area extending from Pont Arena, California to Coos Bay, Oregon, where they may contribute up to 30 percent of the ocean commercial and sport catch, but an occasional Klamath salmon has been found off central California and the northern Oregon coast. The west coast salmon fishery is regulated by the Pacific Fishery Management Council on the basis of "weak stock" management, making coastwide closures a distinct possibility for the coming seasons because of the 2002 Klamath fish kill.

"We believe federal disaster relief for the businesses and communities that will be affected by these fishery closures is appropriate. The low flows causing the fish kill were the direct result of actions taken by the federal Klamath Irrigation Project, operated by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, which diverted water from the river that year that was needed for fish survival," wrote PCFFA Executive Director Zeke Grader in the letter to President Bush. "The fact low flows were a major factor in the 2002 fish kill has been confirmed in reports by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish & Game and every credible scientific investigation of the event."

In January of this year, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced a multi-million dollar federal program to provide relief in the basin, but it included nothing for fisheries. Norton was one of the federal agents who in 2002 personally opened the Klamath irrigation headgates, thus cutting off flows to the river.

On the Klamath River, some of the impacts are being felt this year with a reduced quota for the in-river sport fishery. The problem was brought to the attention of the California Fish & Game Commission at its 24-25 June meeting in Crescent City, California. The Commission listened to river guides, anglers and fish camps regarding the impacts. PCFFA Vice-President Dave Bitts, a member of the Klamath Fishery Management Council, and the PCFFA Executive Director both spoke, pointing to the "unjust" situation all fishery groups are faced with because of the Department of Interior's 2002 actions. The Commission has established a work group, consisting of guides, local businesses and PCFFA to work on an action plan.

PCFFA, meanwhile, is making its request now for assistance because of concern the issue will be given short shrift next year by a Congress and Administration grappling with the huge federal budget deficit. Moreover, it would be too late by the time a relief program was developed and implemented if agencies waited until next year, when closures are expected, to make the request. The impact of such closures could go far beyond the 2005 and 2006 seasons for the salmon fishery, making it difficult for fishermen to re-enter the markets they have been successfully reclaiming from farmed fish.

"The irony is that our fisheries are likely to be closed down when nearly every other salmon stock we harvest are at their greatest abundance in at least a decade. The inequity is that Klamath irrigators, who got the water in 2002 and much of their allotment in 2001, are being provided assistance by the government, but not a cent goes for damaged fishing communities. The insult is the magnitude of the economic loss that will be visited upon local communities, Tribes, and fishing men and women due to an irresponsible and callous government," said the PCFFA Executive Director discussing the request. A copy of the letter to the President is on the PCFFA website at: http://www.pcffa.org.

10:01/02. FINAL KLAMATH FISH KILL REPORT SAYS AS MANY AS 80,000 ADULT SALMON MAY HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT IN SEPTEMBER 2002: On 1 August the California Department of Fish & Game (CDFG) released its final report on the Klamath River fish kill of September 2002. The peer-reviewed report reiterated CDFG's previous conclusions that record low flows from Iron Gate Dam, resulting from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's (BOR) refusal to release enough water to the Klamath for fish, was the triggering event killing a record number of adult fall-run chinook salmon. Called the worst fish kill in U.S. history, the vast majority of these salmon were natural spawners, which serve as the base for Klamath fisheries management. CDFG's final report further concluded that the methodology used to count carcasses greatly underestimated the total number of dead fish, and as many as 80,000 fall-run chinook spawners may have perished in the late summer of 2002, not 34,000 as earlier estimated.

Near-record to record low returning Klamath chinook salmon runs are projected for 2005 and 2006 as a result of 2002 losses, prompting efforts to obtain disaster relief for salmon fisheries facing coastwide closures in those years (see 10:01/01 above). CDFG's report firmly rebuts allegations by upper basin water users that high temperature, not low flow, was the triggering cause; in fact, CDFG found temperatures at the time of the fish kill were not unusually high. The 2002 flows in the Trinity River (the Klamath's largest tributary) were also among the highest in recent years, while flows in the mainstem Klamath below Iron Gate Dam the BOR kept artificially low - the second lowest level on record over the past several decades - in order to maximize irrigation deliveries to its Klamath Irrigation Project. Iron Gate Dam releases planned by the Bureau for August and September of 2004 will be even lower, exposing one of the still-abundant Klamath fall chinook runs, as well as the Endangered Species Act-listed coho, to a high risk of another fish kill.

For a copy of CDFG's 183 page final report see: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/html/krfishkill-2004.pdf. For more information regarding CDFG's final report on the Klamath fish kill, see the 2 August Oregonian at: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/ index.ssf?/base/news/1091447789312871.xml, and the 1 August Seattle Times review of the final report located on the net at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001993805_fishkill31m.html.

10:01/03. BOR TURNS DOWN REQUEST FOR RELEASES TO KLAMATH TO FLUSH FISH PAST PARASITE INFESTATIONS; NMFS HAS NO PLANS TO PREVENT REPEAT OF 2002 FISH KILL: In what looks to be a redux of 2002, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) refused a request made by Klamath Basin Tribes to increase spills into the Klamath River to get fish by selected portions of the river that have been infected by potentially lethal parasites. According to the California Department of Fish & Game's (CDFG) Gary Stacey, up to 80 percent of juvenile fish have been infected. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Al Donner, the die-off started in early May. For more, see the 2 July Oregonian at: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/ index.ssf?/base/news/1088769904147420.xml.

On top of BOR's refusal to provide water needed for the fish, the Eureka Times-Standard reported on 27 July that Federal officials have yet to develop a plan to deal with a repeat of the 2002 salmon kill on the Klamath River, even as flows in the lower river drop below that year's levels. The BOR is claiming it has acquired 25,000 acre feet of water from Central Valley water contractors at a price of $28 an acre foot. But how water from the Trinity River will be distributed, and what agency or group will decide that, is uncertain, said the National Marine Fisheries Service's Irma Largomarcino. BOR has finally responded to a Humboldt Board of Supervisors request in January for the 50,000 acre-feet of Trinity water that County is annually due, saying there would be no set aside from the Central Valley Project and the County could just take the water from additional flows in the 2000 Trinity Record of Decision (ROD). The Trinity ROD, which had been challenged by the Westlands Water District and temporarily invalidated by U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger in Fresno, was upheld by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

10:01/04. SALMON WIN COURT REPRIEVE FROM CUTBACKS IN COLUMBIA SPILL; FEDS APPEAL DECISION: On 29 July, U.S. District Court (Portland, Oregon) Judge James A. Redden invalidated plans by the federal government to reduce the use of water flushed past the Columbia River dams to guide salmon smolts around power turbines to the sea. For many years, a portion of the river's water has been reserved for use as "spill" to get salmon smolts around the dams and to speed their journey to the ocean, all aimed at improving survival rates for the juvenile fish. In approving the spill curtailment plan, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) greatly underestimated the adverse impacts on salmon (which the Bonneville Power Administration itself estimated at more than 29,000 additional adult salmon deaths), and used extremely optimistic assumptions on the effectiveness of substitute measures. Some of those measures, in the form of additional water from Brownlee Reservoir, were double counting of flows already required under NMFS' existing Biological Opinion (BiOp) for protecting the fish. For these reasons the Court ruled the spill reduction plan "arbitrary and capricious," noting that not only was spill required in the current federal salmon plan, but the survival rates called for in that salmon plan have never been met. The federal government has filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is to be heard soon.

Utilities pushed hard for the spill reduction, saying that it would save tens of millions of dollars by reserving more water for power production instead of for fish. NMFS Northwest Regional Director Robert Lohn, a former Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) official, approved the fishery agency's decision to side with hydropower interests against the fish. Opponents of the plan pointed out that economic savings from eliminating the fish spills amount to less than ten cents per household per month, but would cause enormous economic costs to the fishing industry, as well as curtailing efforts to rescue threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia. PCFFA and IFR are co-plaintiffs in the suit, and were joined in the motion to invalidate the spill curtailment proposal by the State of Oregon, Salmon for All, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association and a number of river conservation groups and Tribes. For more information, go to: http://www.wildsalmon.org.

10:01/05. KLAMATH DAMS FIGHT GOES TO SCOTLAND: In the third week of July a delegation from all four Klamath Basin Tribes (the Yurok, Karuk, Hupa and Klamath), as well as representatives of the commercial fishing industry (PCFFA) and river conservation groups, went to Edinburgh, Scotland, to attend the Scottish Power annual shareholders meeting to protest lack of fish passage in five Klamath River dams. The dams are owned by PacifiCorp, but since 1999, PacifiCorp has been wholly owned by Scottish Power, one of the world's largest international energy companies.

These five small and aging hydropower dams produce little power but bisect the Klamath River, once the third most productive salmon river in the U.S., and have no fish passage. As a result, more than one-third of the Klamath River's once productive salmon habitat has been blocked, with salmon in the lower two-thirds further threatened by deteriorating water quality caused in part by the dams. The dams must be relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by March 2006, but in its Final License Application PacifiCorp made no mention of volitional fish passage.

On 22 July the delegation met with Mr. Ian Russell, Scottish Power CEO, and other corporate officials (including Judi Johansen, CEO and President of PacifiCorp), for a frank discussion of the problems faced by communities in the Klamath as a result of lack of fish passage at the dams. At that meeting, and again at the shareholders meeting on 23 July, Russell pledged to open better communications with the Tribes and lower river affected interests, and asked PacifiCorp officials to meet with the delegation to work toward a solution to fish passage problems. A report on the Scotland efforts is on the Friends of the River website at: http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/Articles/2004_ScottishPowerMakesCommitment.html; additional UK and U.S. media coverage is at: http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/CaliforniaRiverNews.php.

10:01/06. BUSH ADMINISTRATION CUTS WILDLIFE AGENCIES OUT OF PESTICIDE CONSULTATION PROCESS; EPA NOW TO "SELF CONSULT": In response to court orders for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to formally consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the impact of pesticides on endangered and threatened salmon (see Sublegals, 9:04/01; 8:03/03), the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has changed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) federal rules to allow EPA to consult only with itself, rather than with the federal agencies with fish and wildlife expertise, allowing EPA to turn a blind eye to pesticide impacts on fish. The new rules for "self consultation" are a direct response to the Washington Toxics Coalition, et al. v. EPA (Western Dist. of Washington at Seattle, Civ. No. C01-132C) ruling of 2 July 2002 that held that EPA violated the ESA by failing to consult NMFS on ways to minimize the impact of pesticides on ESA-listed salmon and steelhead (see Sublegals, 6:01/05; 5:07/08; 3:18/12; 3:05/02). Both PCFFA and IFR were co-plaintiffs in that case. Until the recent litigation, the EPA simply ignored the ESA requirement. Since then a number of cases have asked for similar ESA Section 7 consultations for other species, creating a consultation backlog.

The EPA allows use of thousands of pesticides that impact fish and wildlife but, until recent litigation, had done no consultations on the impacts of these chemicals on federally protected threatened or endangered species. Under the new rules, EPA would simply "self-consult" internally on these impacts and would have the sole discretion to determine whether or not a pesticide "is not likely to adversely affect (NLAA)" the listed species. Previously, NLAA rulings required concurrence by the fish and wildlife agencies, which have often found EPA's analysis flawed and inadequate. EPA has little expertise on fish and wildlife impacts of pesticides, and relies almost entirely on studies done by the chemical manufacturers. The Services' input now is limited to token oversight of the EPA decision-making process under the new rules. These "Counterpart Consultation Rules" were finalized on 5 August and published in the Federal Register (Vol. 69, No. 147, pp. 47731 - 47762). On 26 July, PCFFA and IFR along with several groups involved in the original Washington Toxics Coalition case filed a 60-day Notice with EPA, challenging a number of the NLAA determinations to date on pesticides that affect salmon. A copy of that 60-Day Notice is at: http://www.pesticide.org/noinr07-26-04.html. For more, see the 30 July Oregonian at: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/ front_page/1091188559189580.xml.

10:01/07: ALASKA, WASHINGTON SALMON FISHERMEN AWARDED RELIEF TO COMPENSATE FOR DUMPING ON US MARKET BY FOREIGN SALMON FARMERS: The Associated Press reports salmon fishermen in Alaska and Washington will soon be getting checks from the U.S. Government for up to $10,000 each to mitigate damages suffered by the fishermen as a result of dumping by foreign salmon farmers on the domestic market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency - which has until now mainly provided price support for farmers - is paying for the fishermen's relief for the first time through the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, said the AP report. According to USDA officials, an increase in imports in farmed salmon, particularly from Chile, caused the price of Alaska fishermen's catch to drop from a five-year average of 40 cents a pound to 26 cents a pound in 2002. Some 1,415 Alaska fishermen have been approved to receive a total of about $3.2 million. Alaska fishermen who qualify will receive 3 cents per pound for five species of salmon caught in 2002, up to $10,000. Washington fishermen will receive 7 cents per pound for three species. Oregon fishermen were denied their petition for aid because the price of their catch did not drop far enough, said the AP report.

10:01/08. CALIFORNIA FINALLY LISTS COHO UNDER STATE LAW. On Thursday, 5 August, at its meeting in Bridgeport (California), the California Fish & Game Commission voted to list coho salmon from San Francisco north under the State's Endangered Species Act (CESA). This follows on the Commission action of nearly a decade ago listing coho salmon populations south of San Francisco. In 1993, after two decades of increasingly severe catch restrictions, the fishery for coho was closed off California. In 1996, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed coho under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA); NMFS, however, has yet to develop a recovery plan for any of the Pacific coast listed coho stocks.

The Salmon & Steelhead Recovery Coalition (formerly the "Gang of Seven"), of which PCFFA is a member, began the push for a state listing to provide the fish protections (e.g., timber harvests) over and above those afforded under the federal act. On 30 August 2002, the Fish & Game Commission voted to make coho a candidate species under CESA but no additional protections were afforded (see Sublegals, 6:09/07; 6:03/11; 5:22/01; 3:14/02; 2:13/11). Shortly after that, the Sonoma County Water Agency (SWWA) offered to bankroll the state recovery planning effort. Finally, in February, following 18-months of work, the Commission approved a $5 billion, 25-30 year coho recovery plan "intended to boost the salmon population to the point that it can sustain recreational, commercial and tribal fishing, eventually resulting in its removal from the endangered list." It also announced at that time its intent to list (see Sublegals, 9:06/01; 8:18/06; 8:17/12).

The Commission at its 25 June meeting in Crescent City balked at taking action for a final listing, voting 3 - 2 to oppose. In the intervening month, however, following discussions with State Senate President John Burton (D-San Francisco) and others, there was a change of heart and in Bridgeport the Commission voted 4 - 0 (Commissioner Michael Flores abstaining) to list. Coho from San Mateo County north to Punta Gorda are listed as "endangered" and north of Punta Gorda as "threatened." Added to this, the $6 1/2 million for the implementation of the Coho Recovery Strategy remained in the State budget. For more information, go to the California Fish & Game Commission website at: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fg_comm, or call (916) 653-4899.

10:01/09: STUDIES LINK WILD SALMON SEA LICE INFESTATIONS TO AQUACULTURE; SALMON FARMERS ATTACK MESSENGER: Three recent studies have been released further connecting the outbreak of sea lice infestations in wild salmon populations to the presence of salmon net pen aquaculture operations, Intrafish reports. Scientists with Scotland's Fisheries Research Service reported the population of sea lice larvae in the near-shore and off-shore waters of Loch Torridon, Scotland appear linked with sea lice infestations in fish farms. Their findings were published in the current issue of the journal Aquaculture. The Canadian Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO), meanwhile, has released a study showing two-thirds of chum fry and half of pink salmon leaving the Broughton Archipelago in May were infested with sea lice in 2004, compared with a 25 percent infection rate in 2003. DFO, a long-time apologist for the fish farms, claims the higher infestation rates are due to warmer waters; other scientists contend, however, the cause is the proliferation of fish farms in the area.

Rather than deal with the issue of the infestations caused by their operations, the aquaculture industry has decided to kill the messenger, according to a 20 July Canada NewsWire report. A group calling itself Positive Aquaculture Awareness, is claiming recent Suzuki Foundation press statements linking the presence of open-netcage salmon farms with sea lice infestations, destroying wild pink salmon populations in Broughton Sound, are based on "insufficient data." For more information on the Suzuki Foundation publication, go to: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/Publications.asp. To see the Canada NewsWire report, go to: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2004/20/c4642.html.

10:01/10. HELP ON WAY FOR SEA TURTLES?: The United Nations' (UN) Environmental Program reports longline fishermen who use large, circular hooks baited with fish, rather than squid, may boost catches while reducing the number of turtles hooked in the fishing gear every year. The turtles can be seriously injured or die from being hooked. It was out of concern for the turtles that vast areas of the Pacific have been closed to longlining for tuna, swordfish and shark. Studies found using circle hooks baited with mackerel caught around 90 per cent fewer leatherback turtles and over 60 per cent fewer loggerhead turtles than traditional J-shaped hooks baited with squid. The importance of testing new kinds of hook and fishing methods as a way of conserving rare and endangered migratory marine turtles is highlighted in a new booklet called "Catch Fish Not Turtles Using Longlines" compiled by the Blue Ocean Institute. It is available online at www.wpcouncil.org and www.ioseaturtles.org, or it can be ordered free of charge in English, Japanese, or Spanish from the Blue Ocean Institute, at: ericgilman@earthlink.net. In Australia, turtles and other marine creatures that can become ensnared in "ghost nets" in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria have been thrown a $2 million lifeline by the federal government. On 28 July, Fisheries & Conservation Minister Ian MacDonald announced the grant that will initiate the effort to remove nets and other marine debris from shorelines. Ghost nets - lost or discarded from fishing vessels - ensnare turtles in the water. For more information: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=13441.

10:01/11. COMMENTS SOUGHT ON PLAN TO EXTEND USE OF BYCATCH REDUCTION DEVICES IN SOUTHEAST SHRIMP FISHERY, ADD MANAGEMENT FEE: The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding a series of public hearings and soliciting comments from area fishermen and others regarding proposed measures in Amendment 6 to the Council's Shrimp Fishery Management Plan. Among the proposals are one to extend the mandate for the use of bycatch reduction devices in the rock shrimp fishery. These bycatch reduction mechanisms incorporated into the net are also called, depending on their design and purpose, turtle excluder devices (TEDs) or finfish excluder devices (FEDs). Beside their cost, the concern of many fishermen is they also reduce shrimp catches. The devices are already in use in many of the area's shrimp fisheries. The SAFMC is also considering a $50.00 permit fee for the shrimp fishery. Copies of the public hearing document are available from the SAFMC office at (843) 571-4366. Written comments regarding Amendment 6 to the Shrimp Fishery Management Plan will be accepted until 13 August. Comments should be sent to SAFMC, One Southpark Circle, Suite 306, Charleston, SC 29407-4699, or via e-mail to: shrimpcomments@safmc.net.

NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items, comments or any corrections to Editor at: sublegals@ifrfish.org, or call the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a source at either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000 (Northwest Office).